Pascagoula Truck Accident Lawyer
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers and accident victims in Pascagoula, throughout Jackson County, and across the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and a large share of the people who need a Pascagoula truck accident lawyer were hurt while they were on the clock. Shipyard haulers, refinery supply drivers, delivery drivers, and contractors who spend their days on Highway 90, Highway 63, and the roads feeding the Port of Pascagoula share the pavement with heavy tractor-trailers every day.
A crash with a commercial truck rarely produces a simple claim. If you were driving for your employer, you likely have a workers’ compensation claim against your employer’s insurer, and you may also have a separate injury claim against the trucking company or driver who caused the wreck. Those two tracks run on different clocks and different rules, and a decision made on one can affect the other.
The first weeks after a truck crash are when most of the important decisions get made: who you speak to, what you sign, which doctor you see, and whether anyone preserves the truck’s data before it is overwritten.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC After a Truck Crash
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation firm that also handles car and truck accidents, premises liability, and wrongful death claims for injured people in Mississippi and Louisiana. The firm has recovered more than $100 million in settlements for clients. It was ranked by Best Law Firms in 2026 for Workers’ Compensation Law, Claimants, in Jackson.
That focus matters in truck cases because so many of them overlap with a job. Rob Lunsford, Founding Partner, has spent his entire legal career representing injured workers. Partners Brad Baskin and Jennifer Priebe have been recognized by Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and The National Trial Lawyers. Andrew Rueff has successfully tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict and has argued personal injury and insurance cases before state appellate courts, which is the courtroom experience a contested truck liability case can require. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
The results reflect the kind of injuries truck crashes cause. The firm secured $385,000 for a project manager with back injuries after he was struck in his work vehicle, $190,000 for a truck driver who hurt his lower back in a wreck on the job, and $685,000 for a surgical tech with a lower back injury. Clients describe attorneys who listen, take the time to understand their situation, and stand up to the insurance company at every step. You pay nothing up front, the firm advances case costs, consultations are free, and the firm is paid only if it recovers for you. Phones are answered around the clock, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with the team in their own language.
Injuries and Claim Types We See in Gulf Coast Truck Wrecks
- Back, Neck, and Spine Injuries: Rear-end impacts and sudden stops involving loaded trucks commonly cause lumbar and cervical disc herniations. Insurers often point to degenerative disc disease, so the medical record needs to show what changed after the crash.
- Drivers Hurt in the Course of Employment: If you were hauling, delivering, or traveling between job sites when a truck hit you, workers’ compensation can cover medical care and wage benefits regardless of who was at fault, with a third-party claim possible on top of it.
- Shoulder and Knee Injuries: Bracing against the wheel or being thrown against the door frame can tear a rotator cuff or meniscus, and an employer or insurer may call the damage an old injury.
- Fractures and Crush Injuries: Hips, ankles, feet, and legs take the worst of a collision with a vehicle that outweighs a car many times over, often requiring surgery and long recovery.
- Burns and Catastrophic Injuries: Industrial traffic around plants, rigs, and port facilities can involve fuel and chemical loads, and fires after impact cause severe burns.
- Wrongful Death: When a truck crash kills a family member, the survivors may pursue both death benefits through workers’ compensation (if the person was working) and a wrongful death claim against the at-fault party.
- Premises and Loading-Area Accidents: Not every truck injury happens on the highway. Yards, docks, and job sites produce falls and struck-by incidents that can create liability for someone besides the employer.
What to Do in the Days After a Truck Accident in Pascagoula
Start with your health. Get evaluated even if you feel mostly fine, because disc and soft-tissue injuries often show up hours or days later, and a gap in treatment gives an insurer something to argue. Tell every provider that you were in a truck crash and, if it happened during work, that it is a work injury, so the records say so from the first visit.
If you were working, report the injury to your employer in writing as soon as you can. Mississippi gives you 30 days from the accident to notify your employer, and Louisiana uses the same 30-day window. Missing it can jeopardize benefits. For the comp claim itself, you generally have two years from the date of injury to file with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission if no disability benefits have been paid. Mississippi covers you from your first day on the job, with no waiting period. If the crash happened across the line in Louisiana or your claim runs through that state, a formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident.
The injury claim against the at-fault driver or trucking company runs on its own clock. In Mississippi, most negligence claims must be filed within three years after the cause of action accrues, and Mississippi applies pure comparative negligence, so partial fault reduces your recovery rather than ending it. Louisiana is stricter. For crashes on or after January 1, 2026, a plaintiff found 51 percent or more at fault recovers nothing, and for injuries on or after July 1, 2024, the filing period is two years. If a government vehicle or agency is involved, Mississippi’s Tort Claims Act imposes a one-year limit and a notice requirement, so raise that early.
Evidence in a truck case disappears quickly. Trucks carry electronic data that records speed and braking, and carriers keep driver logs and maintenance files only so long, so a preservation demand should go out early. Photograph the scene, the vehicles, and your injuries, collect witness names, and get the crash report from the investigating agency. Be careful with the trucking company’s insurer. Adjusters call quickly, sound friendly, and ask for recorded statements and broad medical releases. You are not required to give a recorded statement to the other side, and what you say can be used to shrink the claim.
If your workers’ compensation claim gets denied, there is a path forward. In Mississippi, a claim is heard first by an Administrative Judge at the Workers’ Compensation Commission, and a ruling can be reviewed by the Full Commission on the existing record. A final award can then be appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court within 30 days, which often assigns the case to the Court of Appeals. Federal court questions arising on the Gulf Coast would go to the Southern District of Mississippi, where the Southern Division sits in Gulfport and covers Jackson County.
How Comp and a Truck Injury Claim Work Together
Workers’ compensation does not pay for pain and suffering, and it does not require you to prove anyone was careless. It pays medical treatment and a portion of lost wages. Mississippi’s weekly wage benefit is up to two-thirds of your average weekly wage, subject to a statutory maximum, and total disability benefits generally run no longer than 450 weeks. Because those benefits are limited, a claim against a negligent trucking company can reach damages comp never will, including pain, suffering, and the full measure of lost earning capacity.
The two claims interact. The comp insurer that paid your medical bills and wage benefits may have a right to be repaid from what you recover from the third party, and a careless settlement with one side can put the other at risk. Settling the injury claim before the comp carrier is accounted for can cost you benefits you were counting on. Coordinating the claims, so that the order of settlement and the handling of that repayment right work in your favor, is a large part of the value of having one team on both.
Trucking cases also have more potential defendants than ordinary crashes. Depending on the facts, responsibility can reach the driver, the carrier that employed or contracted with the driver, the company that loaded the trailer, and a party that maintained the equipment. Your employer is typically shielded from a negligence suit by the comp system, but outside companies are not.
Questions People Ask About Pascagoula Truck Accident Claims
Do I need a lawyer after a truck accident in Pascagoula?
If the injuries are more than minor, or the trucking company’s insurer is already contacting you, it is worth a conversation. Commercial carriers have adjusters and lawyers ready within hours of a serious crash. Consultations with our firm are free.
How much does it cost to hire the firm?
Nothing up front. The firm advances the costs of your case and is paid only if it recovers benefits or a settlement for you. Fees in workers’ compensation cases are limited and approved under state law.
I was driving for work when the truck hit me. Which claim do I file?
Often both. A workers’ compensation claim covers medical care and wage benefits regardless of fault, and a separate claim against the at-fault truck driver or company can recover damages comp does not. The two need to be coordinated.
What is the deadline to report a work injury?
Report it to your employer within 30 days of the accident in both Mississippi and Louisiana. Do it in writing and keep a copy.
How long do I have to file in Mississippi?
For workers’ compensation, generally two years from the date of injury to file with the Commission if no disability benefits have been paid. For most negligence claims against a driver or carrier, three years from when the claim accrues. Special rules apply to government defendants, so do not wait.
What if I was partly at fault for the crash?
In Mississippi, your recovery is reduced by your share of fault but not eliminated. Louisiana is harsher for newer crashes: at 51 percent fault or more, you recover nothing. Workers’ compensation does not depend on fault at all.
Can the trucking company’s insurer make me give a recorded statement?
No. You have no obligation to give the other side’s insurer a recorded statement, and early statements are often used to minimize the claim. Talk to a lawyer first.
What evidence should be preserved from a truck crash?
The truck’s electronic data, the driver’s logs and hours records, maintenance and inspection files, dispatch communications, and any dashcam video. Carriers do not keep all of this indefinitely, which is why a prompt preservation demand matters.
Will my health insurance or workers’ comp pay my medical bills while the claim is pending?
If the crash was work-related, workers’ compensation is meant to cover reasonable and necessary treatment, and a denial can be challenged. If it was not, health insurance generally steps in, and the insurer may later seek repayment from any recovery.
What if the comp insurer says my injury is a pre-existing condition?
A pre-existing condition does not automatically end a claim. If the crash caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition, benefits may still be owed. Clear medical evidence comparing your condition before and after the crash is what answers that argument.
What if the driver who hit me worked for a company based in another state?
That is common on Gulf Coast corridors. It can affect which court has jurisdiction and which insurance applies, but it does not prevent a claim. The Southern District of Mississippi and its appeals to the Fifth Circuit are part of that picture for cases that belong in federal court.
What if a family member died in a truck crash?
Survivors may have claims for wrongful death. In Mississippi, wrongful death founded on negligence generally carries a three-year period, and noneconomic damages are capped in most wrongful death cases, while economic damages are not. If the person was working, death benefits through workers’ compensation may also be available.
Serving Truck Accident Clients Across Jackson County and the Gulf Coast
We represent injured people in Pascagoula and throughout Jackson County, including Moss Point, Gautier, Ocean Springs, Gulf Hills, Escatawpa, Vancleave, and the communities that line the corridors between the shipyard, the port, and the interstate. Neighboring Harrison County puts us in reach of Biloxi, Gulfport, D’Iberville, and Long Beach, and the Gulf Coast beyond them reaches Bay St. Louis and Waveland in Hancock County. To the north and east, we serve Lucedale and the surrounding area in George County, along with Hattiesburg and the Pine Belt.
The firm’s reach extends across Mississippi, from Jackson and Madison to Southaven and the Delta, and across south and north Louisiana, including New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Shreveport. Whether the crash happened on a Pascagoula street, a Gulf Coast highway, or a rural road three counties away, the same team can handle both the workers’ compensation claim and the injury case against the party who caused it.
Talk With a Pascagoula Truck Accident Attorney
If a truck crash left you hurt and out of work, a Pascagoula truck accident attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC can look at your comp claim and your injury claim together and tell you what each is worth and what has to happen next. Consultations are free, there is no fee unless we recover for you, and our phones are answered 24 hours a day. Call us, or send your case details, and let us deal with the insurance companies while you focus on getting better.
